Five Years
Went to see "United 93" last night. On first hearing about it, I went through the (probably) predictable reactions: "It's too soon"; "Why make entertainment out of this?"; "What will the relatives think?"; "I won't be able to watch it"...and so on. I really didn't think that this, general release, film, would add anything to the general information (and existing documentaries) already in the public domain. Having been in the US on 9/11, I didn't think I could cope.
But the reviews were stellar. Empire magazine gave it five stars. I became intrigued.
So armed with a handful of hankies, we went to see it...
Wow. This is a stunning, stunning film. It is, of course, distressing. But the tone, the execution, the whole thing is excellent. The director (Paul Greengrass) has managed to highlight the mundanity of flight (you almost feel like one of the passengers, hearing snippets of conversation, recognising, but not knowing the names of, fellow passengers), contrasting this with the audiences knowledge of what it going to happen. Like Titanic, we know what is going to happen. But the reflection of the confusion on the ground, the panic and misinformation, was spot on. It recalled perfectly the feeling we had watching the events unfold on CNN - the initial confusion over what had happened to the first tower, the dawning realisation of the true horror, the panic over how many aircraft were actually involved... There is no "Hollywood-isation"....save a rather unfortunate depiction of a European of some flavour. We don't get to know the names of the passengers, although some are recognisable from coverage at the time (Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham for example). Many of the ATC staff are playing themselves (including the FAA's Ben Sliney), which is also a master stroke - and it isn't dumbed down, they use the language of their jobs. Much like "West Wing", we might not understand every word, but we get the drift.
But the reviews were stellar. Empire magazine gave it five stars. I became intrigued.
So armed with a handful of hankies, we went to see it...
Wow. This is a stunning, stunning film. It is, of course, distressing. But the tone, the execution, the whole thing is excellent. The director (Paul Greengrass) has managed to highlight the mundanity of flight (you almost feel like one of the passengers, hearing snippets of conversation, recognising, but not knowing the names of, fellow passengers), contrasting this with the audiences knowledge of what it going to happen. Like Titanic, we know what is going to happen. But the reflection of the confusion on the ground, the panic and misinformation, was spot on. It recalled perfectly the feeling we had watching the events unfold on CNN - the initial confusion over what had happened to the first tower, the dawning realisation of the true horror, the panic over how many aircraft were actually involved... There is no "Hollywood-isation"....save a rather unfortunate depiction of a European of some flavour. We don't get to know the names of the passengers, although some are recognisable from coverage at the time (Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham for example). Many of the ATC staff are playing themselves (including the FAA's Ben Sliney), which is also a master stroke - and it isn't dumbed down, they use the language of their jobs. Much like "West Wing", we might not understand every word, but we get the drift.
Harrowing - yes. Entertainment - no. Necessary - most definitely.
blogged by VikingChild at 6:22 pm
1 Comments:
Thank you for this - a good, well-considered, review. I will go to see this film now.
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